Nielsen: iPhone Experiences Temporary Boost Against Android in United States

According to the market researchers at Nielsen, it's still a two-horse race in the US smartphone market. But thanks to a massive splash with its latest iPhone, the Android horde has been temporarily slowed, and Apple nearly caught up to the smartphone platform that is otherwise defeating it at every turn. Unfortunately for the iPhone, however, this turnaround seems to be temporary and there's already evidence that the iPhone 4S sales surge is over.

"The high-profile launch of Apple's iPhone 4S in the Fall had an enormous impact on the proportion of smartphone owners [in the United States] who chose an Apple iPhone," Nielsen reports. "Among recent acquirers, meaning those who said they got a new device within the past three months, 44.5 percent of those surveyed in December said they chose an iPhone, compared with just 25.1 percent [right before the iPhone 4S launch]. Furthermore, 57 percent of new iPhone owners surveyed in December said they got an iPhone 4S."

That's a huge jump for iPhone. And Android saw a corresponding fall in market share—which is to say a percentage of total units sold in a given time frame—from 61.6 percent of all smartphones before the iPhone 4S launched in October to just 46.9 percent in December. That was still enough for Android to edge out the iPhone, of course, but by a much lower margin than before the iPhone 4S launch.

(Other market researchers cast some doubt on Nielsen's numbers. A late November report from comScore claims that Android continued dominating the iPhone throughout last year, with 47 percent of US smartphone customers buying Android handsets that month, compared with just 29 percent for Apple.)

Regardless of the numbers, Apple is benefiting from a temporary bump due to a once-yearly major product launch. And there's already evidence that the sales boom is coming to a close. Wait times for the iPhone 4S were a week or more throughout the end of 2011, but with the New Year, those times have dropped dramatically on all three US-based carriers that sell the device, as well as on the unlocked version. In fact, many Apple retail stores now have the iPhone 4S in stock—no waiting required.

This is a problem because Apple isn't expected to debut its iPhone 5 until mid-year at the earliest. Meanwhile, the steady release of ever-better Android handsets on all carriers continues unabated. This is one of only many differences between the two products, and a factor that helps Android maintain and extend its overall lead against its slower-moving, single-supplier rival.

And other platforms aren't doing so well. Research In Motion's (RIM's) BlackBerry continued to hemorrhage users in the United States during the previous quarter, dropping from 7.7 percent of the US market in October to just 4.5 percent in December. Microsoft's Windows Phone remains mired at 1.4 percent.

Overall smartphone usage is only rising too, Nielsen notes. "As of Q4 2011, 46 percent of US mobile consumers had smartphones, and that figure is growing quickly," the company reports. "In fact, 60 percent of those who said they got a new device within the last three months chose a smartphone over a feature phone."

Discuss this Article 17

"iPhone Experiences Temporary Boost Against Android in United States"
It is AMAZING how Paul can see into the future and already knows this is a temporary sales boost! Incredible. How does he DO that??
"Microsoft's Windows Phone remains mired at 1.4 percent."
Hey, I can do it too! Windows Phone is screwed, now and in the future. The difference is I like to use this thing I call a "factual basis" for the claim,
"Nielsen notes. "As of Q4 2011, 46 percent of US mobile consumers had smartphones, and that figure is growing quickly," the company reports. "In fact, 60 percent of those who said they got a new device within the last three months chose a smartphone over a feature phone."
This means that the smartphone market is rapidly maturing and the incumbents are Android and iPhone. There's precious little left to the claim that it's still "early" in the smartphone market. Like RIM, Windows Phone is now basically irrelevant. The technical merits are unimportant, they are just too late to the party.

"iPhone Experiences Temporary Boost Against Android in United States"
It is AMAZING how Paul can see into the future and already knows this is a temporary sales boost! Incredible. How does he DO that??
"Microsoft's Windows Phone remains mired at 1.4 percent."
Hey, I can do it too! Windows Phone is screwed, now and in the future. The difference is I like to use this thing I call a "factual basis" for the claim,
"Nielsen notes. "As of Q4 2011, 46 percent of US mobile consumers had smartphones, and that figure is growing quickly," the company reports. "In fact, 60 percent of those who said they got a new device within the last three months chose a smartphone over a feature phone."
This means that the smartphone market is rapidly maturing and the incumbents are Android and iPhone. There's precious little left to the claim that it's still "early" in the smartphone market. Like RIM, Windows Phone is now basically irrelevant. The technical merits are unimportant, they are just too late to the party.

"iPhone Experiences Temporary Boost Against Android in United States"
It is AMAZING how Paul can see into the future and already knows this is a temporary sales boost! Incredible. How does he DO that??
"Microsoft's Windows Phone remains mired at 1.4 percent."
Hey, I can do it too! Windows Phone is screwed, now and in the future. The difference is I like to use this thing I call a "factual basis" for the claim,
"Nielsen notes. "As of Q4 2011, 46 percent of US mobile consumers had smartphones, and that figure is growing quickly," the company reports. "In fact, 60 percent of those who said they got a new device within the last three months chose a smartphone over a feature phone."
This means that the smartphone market is rapidly maturing and the incumbents are Android and iPhone. There's precious little left to the claim that it's still "early" in the smartphone market. Like RIM, Windows Phone is now basically irrelevant. The technical merits are unimportant, they are just too late to the party.

@nim55
"On the other hand we have Android, which is actually not a single company but a conglomerate of many phone makers which are all viciously competing at cut-throat prices against each other more than they are against Apple for a share of the Android market."
YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats the beauty of Android, it DRIVES INNOVATION, if Apple dominated the market then stagnation would set in, think WinMo.
"none of the Android makers alone enjoys the profits of Apple"
To me that reads....."Apple is ripping off consumers" (I own a 3gs btw)
"it's fairly certain that the profits of all of the Android sales put together don't come close to Apple's profits"
Samsung made $4.5Bn PROFT Q4 2011.....so Im sure the total would be close to Apple or better ? your point being ?
"Sheesh! I was thinking nearly the exact opposite: That Paul Thurrott is a horrible and clueless journalist who exhibits very little intelligence or judgement when he writes articles like this."
Pretty petty comment..............nuff said
In the end of the day Competition is GOOD for everyone, its what drives Innovation.

"iPhone Experiences Temporary Boost Against Android in United States"
It is AMAZING how Paul can see into the future and already knows this is a temporary sales boost! Incredible. How does he DO that??
"Microsoft's Windows Phone remains mired at 1.4 percent."
Hey, I can do it too! Windows Phone is screwed, now and in the future. The difference is I like to use this thing I call a "factual basis" for the claim,
"Nielsen notes. "As of Q4 2011, 46 percent of US mobile consumers had smartphones, and that figure is growing quickly," the company reports. "In fact, 60 percent of those who said they got a new device within the last three months chose a smartphone over a feature phone."
This means that the smartphone market is rapidly maturing and the incumbents are Android and iPhone. There's precious little left to the claim that it's still "early" in the smartphone market. Like RIM, Windows Phone is now basically irrelevant. The technical merits are unimportant, they are just too late to the party.

By the way.
This is what innovation looks like:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2012/01/apples-foray-into-textbooks-to-begin-a-learning-revolution.ars
Note that there's nothing else currently like it.

Nice article, must say I find Paul to be one of the few journalists with a bit of intelligence who actually uses FACTS to backup his articles.
Anyways, yeah I think the real headline here is WP7 market share, for me *alot* of people are put off by the Microsoft brand (remember winmo 6.5....I sure do), I read a survey this week which said only 9% of winmo owners would buy a WP7 phone.
Nokia could have done great things if it had adopted Android 2 years ago, and the ironic thing is Elop said he wanted to "differentiate" !?!?!? all WP7 phones look and act the same ??
Lets Flop with Elop :D

@ GaryC
"Nice article, must say I find Paul to be one of the few journalists with a bit of intelligence who actually uses FACTS to backup his articles."
Like others have said, you couldn't be more wrong about Paul. What he writes here about Apple is his opinion and it is always negative (and against mainstream thought) to provoke hits to his website. His opinion is also almost always based on faulty logic, and any so called facts to back it up are cherry picked from all the other websites that virtually always say the opposite.
This article is no different. The Nielson marketshare numbers include December holiday sales, while Comscore excludes them.
How earlier market share numbers cast doubt on later ones is beyond me.
In fact, the only thing that it casts doubt on is Pauls thought processes.
The only reason the iPhone is in stock again is because the Christmas season is over. This happens every year to Apple and every other manufacturer.
To illustrate the point, sales of the Kindle Fire were supposedly red hot before Christrmas. Reports are that orders have now been cut in half.
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20120119PD214.html. (Take the accuracy of this report with a grain of salt)
Furthermore, the marketshare of the 4s is not going to drop as fast as Paul hopes (Worldwide at least) The 4s has just gone on sale in China through China Unicom and the 4s has just received a network access license for China Telecom. This will result in a huge spike in iPhone sales. Demand for the 4s is already very high in China.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/01/20/china-telecom-compatible-iphone-gets-regulatory-nod/?mod=google_news_blog
So GaryC before you actually believe every thing Paul says, take your time to analyze his facts and check whether his reasoning is sound. (Here's a hint, it usually isn't)

@infiniteloop
Not sure whats innovative about distance learning on an iPad rather than a PC ???
You will be telling me apple innnovated e-books next. Like *alot* of their innovations, they are based on prior art.
Is there someting im missing ?

"iPhone Experiences Temporary Boost Against Android in United States"
It is AMAZING how Paul can see into the future and already knows this is a temporary sales boost! Incredible. How does he DO that??
"Microsoft's Windows Phone remains mired at 1.4 percent."
Hey, I can do it too! Windows Phone is screwed, now and in the future. The difference is I like to use this thing I call a "factual basis" for the claim,
"Nielsen notes. "As of Q4 2011, 46 percent of US mobile consumers had smartphones, and that figure is growing quickly," the company reports. "In fact, 60 percent of those who said they got a new device within the last three months chose a smartphone over a feature phone."
This means that the smartphone market is rapidly maturing and the incumbents are Android and iPhone. There's precious little left to the claim that it's still "early" in the smartphone market. Like RIM, Windows Phone is now basically irrelevant. The technical merits are unimportant, they are just too late to the party.

Surely the most interesting number in all of this is the 1.4% that Windows Phone is mired in.
After all the promotions, advertising etc. and after almost two years, the needle still hasn't budged.
It's far too little, far too late. The Nokia marriage hasn't worked and has only spawned the equivalent of ginger haired stepchildren.
This must be extremely worrying for Microsoft. The Metro interface is going to frighten a lot of people off Windows 8.
The iPhone 4S 'boost' represents a massive income surge for Apple, since the company makes more money from mobile than almost everyone else put together.

"iPhone Experiences Temporary Boost Against Android in United States"
It is AMAZING how Paul can see into the future and already knows this is a temporary sales boost! Incredible. How does he DO that??
"Microsoft's Windows Phone remains mired at 1.4 percent."
Hey, I can do it too! Windows Phone is screwed, now and in the future. The difference is I like to use this thing I call a "factual basis" for the claim,
"Nielsen notes. "As of Q4 2011, 46 percent of US mobile consumers had smartphones, and that figure is growing quickly," the company reports. "In fact, 60 percent of those who said they got a new device within the last three months chose a smartphone over a feature phone."
This means that the smartphone market is rapidly maturing and the incumbents are Android and iPhone. There's precious little left to the claim that it's still "early" in the smartphone market. Like RIM, Windows Phone is now basically irrelevant. The technical merits are unimportant, they are just too late to the party.

"Nice article, must say I find Paul to be one of the few journalists with a bit of intelligence who actually uses FACTS to backup his articles."
Sheesh! I was thinking nearly the exact opposite: That Paul Thurrott is a horrible and clueless journalist who exhibits very little intelligence or judgement when he writes articles like this.
After all, what is the significance of market share in the Android versus Apple smartphone market. It's not quite an apples-to-apples comparison. On the one hand we have a single company, Apple, which designs and supplies both the hardware and software for its phones. On the other hand we have Android, which is actually not a single company but a conglomerate of many phone makers which are all viciously competing at cut-throat prices against each other more than they are against Apple for a share of the Android market. None of these Android phone makers alone has the market share of Apple and - more importantly - none of the Android makers alone enjoys the profits of Apple. In fact, to go further, it's fairly certain that the profits of all of the Android sales put together don't come close to Apple's profits. When it comes to selling smartphones, Samsung would love to trade places with Apple, and so would any other Android smartphone maker. So what's the point of comparing the total market share of the Android conglomerate to the market share of Apple's iPhone?

"iPhone Experiences Temporary Boost Against Android in United States"
It is AMAZING how Paul can see into the future and already knows this is a temporary sales boost! Incredible. How does he DO that??
"Microsoft's Windows Phone remains mired at 1.4 percent."
Hey, I can do it too! Windows Phone is screwed, now and in the future. The difference is I like to use this thing I call a "factual basis" for the claim,
"Nielsen notes. "As of Q4 2011, 46 percent of US mobile consumers had smartphones, and that figure is growing quickly," the company reports. "In fact, 60 percent of those who said they got a new device within the last three months chose a smartphone over a feature phone."
This means that the smartphone market is rapidly maturing and the incumbents are Android and iPhone. There's precious little left to the claim that it's still "early" in the smartphone market. Like RIM, Windows Phone is now basically irrelevant. The technical merits are unimportant, they are just too late to the party.

Microsoft Stack Master Class

Understand the complete Microsoft solution stack, how the products work together, and how to implement and maintain for a total datacenter and desktop solution. This course covers the latest technology updates including Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 and will enable the new capabilities to be leveraged in your organization.